


Baby Steps

by parttimehuman



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Cat owner Brett, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, asshole neighbor Nolan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 04:30:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17338634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parttimehuman/pseuds/parttimehuman
Summary: Brett has barely even arrived at his new apartment when one of the neighbors starts terrorizing him. Nolan tries his best to scare Brett away, which would totally work, if Brett's kitty hadn't somehow decided to become best friends with the asshole next door.A completely ridiculous war about the love of a cat ensues.And completely by accident, Brett and Nolan fall in love.





	Baby Steps

“Here you go, little tigress,” Brett whispered softly, opening the transport box he’d carefully set down in the middle of an almost empty, dimly lit living room. 

 

He’d barely had any time to take a proper look around the new apartment, let alone unload the car parked in front of the building, filled with boxes and smaller items of furniture, but as always, Neko came first.

 

“Don’t be scared,” Brett encouraged his cat, holding an open hand out in front of the box. “This is your new home, baby girl. Come out and take a look. You’ll love it.” 

 

Ever so slowly, Neko moved from the farthest corner to the opening, sniffing the air at their new place, looking at Brett first and then around, her furry little body still safely hidden in the box. 

 

“I know, I know,” Brett kept talking to her. Judging from only his voice, nobody would have believed him to be the fully grown, ridiculously tall and incredibly well-trained man that he was, sitting on his butt on the cold, hard floor in an apartment that still needed to warm up after he’d just turned on the heating, with a million currently changing things running through his mind, all of them pushed to the background by the concern for his kitty’s well-being. 

 

Like Brett, Neko had been adopted as a kid about to be swallowed by life’s cruelty, grabbed by merciful hands, pulled out of dirt and chaos, brought into a world that had seemed too good to be true. When misery shifted into luck that quickly and unexpectedly, sometimes it was like going from freezing cold to hot water, the entire body prickling with pain where two extremes clashed.

 

Life had been good to Brett from then on, and he’d taken it in his own hands to make a good life for the tiny creature hiding beneath the blanket in his bed from every sound of increased volume. She had long stopped punishing every attempt to touch her with a bite, and Brett longed to feel her soft little head pressing into his palm during long days at work. 

 

In the new apartment, not far away from home, it was just the two of them for the first time, just Brett and his kitty girl. Frankly, he was a little anxious, because no matter how much he loved her, she wasn’t going to help him do laundry, or wash the dishes. They weren’t going to split bills or take turns cleaning the place up. All of that was Brett’s responsibility alone, and as well as his parents had taught him to do his part in the household, it was still a whole other thing to take care of everything on his own. He’d wanted it, and he still did. He was grateful for all the years in which they’d made sure he had nothing to ever worry about, but it was time for Brett to stand on his own two feet. 

 

“We can do this,” he whispered with a smile, catching Neko’s attention again before she finally stepped out of her box, giving his fingers a lick before she began slowly exploring her new surroundings. Brett closed the box and put it away, moving on to prepare his bed for the night, which might have only been a mattress on the floor in the only bedroom of a really small apartment, but with the pillow his sister Lori had once given him for Christmas and Neko curled up  in front of his chest, it didn’t matter. Brett had everything that he needed. 

 

*

 

“Jesus Christ, not again,” Nolan muttered, looking outside through the window in his tiny kitchen as a tall, dark-blond guy climbed out of the crammed car at the street, rounding the vehicle to pull a backpack, two giant bags and a box out from the passenger’s side. 

 

There was a brief moment when the stranger looked up, standing in front of the building and letting his gaze travel up its front. Nolan wasn’t sure if his eyes really lingered on his window for a second or if that was just what he told himself, but he had that unpleasant feeling of being watched, although he knew that through the curtain and from the distance between the ground and the fourth floor, he wasn’t actually visible. 

 

He’d heard that the apartment next to his own had been rented out again, even if it felt like its previous resident had only just left a minute ago, which was Nolan’s mind playing tricks on him, but he hadn’t expected for another young, hot guy to move in. Frankly, there were way nicer parts of Beacon Hills, way closer to the town’s center, where actual life was happening, and Nolan had limited understanding for someone his own age to move to the metaphorical buttcrack of town just because the rent was slightly cheaper. 

 

Of course, it wasn’t really any of Nolan’s business, it just seemed a little unfair to him, that was all. As much as it had hurt to watch the last guy go, he’d known even with the much loathed tears streaming down his face that he’d needed the space just as well. A handful of okay going days later, and there he was, standing at the window with weak knees as life threw the next brick, not in his way, but right in his face. Nolan was going to have to try his best to duck down and avoid getting hit with full force, was going to have to become even harder and colder than he already was.

 

He simply couldn’t take another blow so soon, and something in the new neighbor’s eyes had told him to better watch out. 

 

Nolan turned away from the window and crossed his apartment, standing at the door contemplating whether he really wanted to go as far as his brain had just suggested. Better make it quick and painful, he decided, fully aware that the new guy had no part in his issues, and he was being a total dick, but the little devil on his shoulder had recently killed the little angel on the other one, and now it was the only one whispering in his ears all the time. 

 

Nolan grabbed his keys and jogged down the stairs until he stood at the same spot where the man with the curly blond hair falling into his eyes had stood before, looking up and finding a little light shining from the window in the apartment next to his own, a little light that sent a sharp sting of pain to his heart. If the guy wanted peace, then he shouldn’t have brought such a soft glow to the very room where Nolan had once- 

 

It didn’t matter anymore. 

 

Nolan turned away with tensed jaws and the key to the building clutched in his hands. He made one lap around the stranger’s car, an ugly screech filling his ears as he left his marks in the car paint, well visible, an uninterrupted line going completely around in a full circle. 

 

It looked pretty shitty, Nolan decided as he stepped away and looked at his work, giving the car owner the time to come running down the stairs and catch him with the key in his hand and no regrets or remorse. It hadn’t felt good to do the damage, had just been a necessary evil, but Nolan felt satisfied with the hope that the message was going to be received in the next morning at the very latest, and soon, hopefully, he was going to have his peace again. 


End file.
